Chained Memoirs
by WilyGryphon
Summary: Marluxia plans to use Naminé to lure Sora into a trap and turn him into a puppet for his schemes. But what he did not account for was a memory-manipulating Nobody who inherited the strong will of her template, and she has plans of her own. An alternate take on Chain of Memories where Naminé uses the powers at her disposal to take control of the situation.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, all. This is going to be a bit of an alternate telling of a tale that most of you may or may not remember. I won't be focusing on this as much as my other project, but this is an idea that I want to write down and put up. As the summary said, expect a certain memory-manipulating Nobody to get a bigger focus and take more of a stand than in the source material. What will happen when the keystone of the game's plot does things with a different kind of initiative, I wonder? Read on and I hope you enjoy.**

 **And know that the title is not to be taken literally, given that "memoirs" are an entirely different genre of literature that I doubt I could try to incorporate into this world. I just wanted a title that indicated that this would be "the same, but different."**

 **Read and be sure to leave reviews. I will be accepting constructive criticism.**

* * *

Ch. 1

A trio of shadowy pods materialized in the white room. When the pods vanished, two cloaked figures were revealed.

"Ugh. Why do they keep sending us to this place? It's not like anyone's going to actually find anything, if we haven't done so yet," the blonde woman with antenna-like hairs complained.

The man with spiky red hair shook his head with an amused smile. "You never know what might turn up with a new set of eyes," he said. He spoke with a perpetually-confident tone and in general kept a relaxed air about him.

"Don't forget what Saïx told us in our briefing, Larxene," the pink-haired man reminded her. "He has detected that a source of strange power materialized in this castle only a few days ago, which I suppose translates to a couple hours here. We are to obtain it and understand its nature."

Larxene rolled her green eyes. "And he can't leave that to Vexen?" she snarled.

"Saïx has divided us between the upper levels and the basements, as is tradition," the scarlet-haired man explained. "I'm sure you wouldn't have known, seeing as you're still a spring chicken. I guess that means whoever finds this 'asset' gets first dibs."

"Axel is correct," the pink-haired gentleman confirmed. "Besides, from what I understand, these business holidays give us ample time to conduct our own studies outside of the watchful eye of the Superior."

Larxene groaned. "Whatever. So long as I don't have to do any tutorial missions babysitting the new twerp."

"Well, I'll leave you to it and I'll start searching around for this new 'asset'," Axel said, exiting the room.

A moment after Axel had left, the pink-haired man raised an eyebrow. "He is aware that the search would be simpler if we all used this to view the other floors," he told Larxene, gesturing toward a large crystal ball in the middle of the room.

Larxene shrugged. "Well, he seems to like doing things his own way, Marluxia," she replied.

"Now that we're alone…" Marluxia stepped closer to converse covertly with Larxene. "You are aware of the _other_ prize on this world, correct?" he asked.

Larxene nodded. "Yeah. The 'hero'."

"He has vanquished the Superior's Heartless. And with the destruction of his mass of undead worlds, he and his imbecile compatriots have materialized on this world," Marluxia explained.

"Why here? What's so special about this place?" the blonde asked.

Marluxia shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps that is why Lord Xemnas elected to conduct another search of the Castle. But what matters… to us… is that the hero is strong enough to defeat a fragment of the Superior."

Larxene smiled wickedly. "So, you want to find a way to get him under our control so we can knock the big guy off of his chair, right? But how do we do that?"

Marluxia smirked. "Perhaps that is where our new asset might assist us…"

Larxene walked over to the crystal ball and placed her hand on the surface. "Well, let's take a look. Hopefully it isn't in the basement and in Vexen's hands," she said. "Let's see… Twelfth? No… Eleventh? No… Huh? Marluxia, look at this."

Marluxia took a look at the crystal ball and allowed an eyebrow to shoot up. "Interesting…"

* * *

 _Sora, you lazy bum… Sora, let's take the raft and go! Just the two of us! What? Just kidding._

 _But you can't come along looking like that. This boat runs on happy faces… * &&X%. Friends here…_

"What's with her?"

"Fascinating. It appears as though she is experiencing someone else's memories."

The girl ignored them for a moment. Engrossed in the moving images floating around her, she attempted to comprehend what she was seeing. She felt absolutely certain that she did not know the people she saw. But, for some reason, they all seemed strangely familiar.

 _There's something about this musty place. It reminds me of the secret place back home…_

"Hey! Shrimp! Eyes up here!" Larxene shouted. The girl finally looked up from the memory visions. These individuals were new; they had not appeared in the memories.

"What's your name?" Marluxia asked.

The girl remained silent, not sure how to answer. _My name? What is my name? Do I even have a name?_

Larxene snapped her fingers. "Hey! We asked you a question!" she hissed.

The girl still did not speak. While she had been watching other people through these illusions, she did not contemplate who she could be. She doubted the visions she saw were her own memories. Did she have any of her own?

She felt an intense pain and fell backward. " _Nggh!_ " she yelped. The visions fizzled and vanished. She looked up at Marluxia and Larxene. The woman held her hand up, lightning crackling between her fingers.

"What's your name?" Larxene asked viciously.

The girl pushed herself back up to a sitting position, wincing from the pain. She thought about remaining silent just to spite the woman, even at the risk of more pain. But she wanted to understand something about herself.

"My… na…?" she slurred uncertainly.

Larxene raised her arm to attack again, but Marluxia caught it. "Don't bother. She does not seem to have any memories to call her own," he told her. "She is a Nobody without a past. Not unlike someone we know."

Larxene pulled her arm free and scowled. "So, she's just a puppet to mold like putty," she muttered. "Hmm… Her first wasted breaths could make a good enough name for a waste like her."

She glared at the girl, and fear entered the girl's eyes. Larxene rolled her eyes.

"Get up, Naminé," she ordered.

The girl looked at her in confusion. "Naminé?" she repeated, unsure what to make of this foreign word.

"That's what I called you, isn't it? Now, get up! Come with us!" Larxene barked.

Nervously, Naminé complied. She stumbled a bit as she forced herself to her feet and took her first steps since materializing in the strange white room, but she soon got the hang of walking and followed Marluxia and Larxene.

* * *

Sora ran his hand through the grass. Goofy stood staring up at the blue sky. Donald simply looked back and forth, taking in the scenery. They were quite surprised to find themselves in a grassy plain after what they had just been through.

Only a few hours ago―or at least they thought it was a few hours―they had battled Heartless as they made their way through a world made out of the remnants of worlds swallowed by Heartless, fought a fierce and terrifying battle against what looked like a giant fire-breathing demon, defeated a man who had possessed the body of Sora's best friend, closed the door to darkness and saved the worlds, and watched their closest friends slip away from their grasp once again―Riku and King Mickey were trapped in the Realm of Darkness on the other side of the door they sealed, and Kairi returned home to Destiny Islands. Then, the dark world collapsed beneath their feet and they fell into an empty void.

After a day like that, seeing a peaceful grassland on a clear sunny day was pretty jarring.

"Do you think it worked?" Donald asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Everything's back to normal," he replied with certainty. "All of the worlds have been restored. The guys in Traverse Town are back home. Kairi's safe…"

"But the King and Riku are still gone," Goofy lamented. "They're trapped in the Realm of Darkness."

Sora and Donald sighed as they realized that he was right. Sora had spent the entire adventure searching for Riku and Kairi. While Kairi was safe and sound now, Riku was even further away than he had been before. Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy's main objective, while they had been sent out to find Sora and fight the Heartless, had been to track down their missing king. They had seen him for a minute and they had not even gotten the chance to talk to him before they were separated again.

But knowing that Riku had overcome his own darkness and was done fighting him, along with knowing where he was, gave Sora hope and confidence. "Don't worry. They can handle themselves," he assured his friends. "They have each other, right?"

Donald and Goofy smiled and nodded, realizing that Sora was right. Sora smiled and clasped his hands behind his head.

"Okay, then. I guess we should figure out where we are, huh?"

* * *

"So, what do you make of her?" Axel asked. He had returned to the thirteenth floor to find that Marluxia and Larxene had found the asset, who appeared to be a thin teenage girl with blue eyes and long blonde hair, wearing a sleeveless white dress and blue sandals.

Marluxia regarded the girl sitting in a simple chair. She stared directly ahead as the memory visions danced around her. "It appears as though she has access to someone else's memories," he explained. "From what I can guess based on the characters shown in these illusions, these memories belong to the boy with the Keyblade, Sora."

 _Sora… So, that was his name… But who were the boy and the girl with him?_

She saw chains weaving through these images. She reached out to grab one of the links and pulled it free. The link broke off from the adjoining links and one of the images faded. Panicking, she put the link back in before the two orphaned links could fold into each other.

"Did you see that?" Axel asked.

Marluxia nodded. "It appears as though she can do more than simply view memories," he said. "She can manipulate them as well." He turned to Larxene. "I do believe we can make use of this."

Naminé paid no attention to them. She was mesmerized by what she had done. She was surprised that she could interact with the chain of the boy's memories. She started to worry that there might have been consequences to her actions if she had not acted quickly enough. She focused on the memory that she had almost caused Sora to lose.

 _Gimme a break, Kairi…_

Kairi. That was her name. The girl Sora was close with. She seemed interesting. She acted sure of herself. Sweet and cheerful, and she did not act disappointed or mad while she seemed to be mocking him. There seemed to be a natural air of playful banter between Sora and Kairi, and the other boy… Riku, did they call him? She wanted to know more about them and the bond they shared.

"Naminé," Marluxia called. Realizing that she was being addressed, the girl looked up at the pink-haired man, who approached her with a smile that belied less-than-wholesome intentions. He rested his hand on her shoulder, making her nervous. Her focus diverted from the memories, the illusions around her faded. "Allow us to develop a better understanding of what you are able to do."

* * *

"Look out!" Riku shouted. Alerted by the warning, the mouse king jumped out of the way of a Darkside's punch. He retaliated by aiming his Keyblade and launching an orb of light at the monster, destroying it instantly.

Riku swung his wing-shaped sword and cut through a Shadow. He parried a swipe from a Neoshadow and counterattacked by stabbing it in the chest. He ran away from the oncoming horde of Heartless and stood back-to-back with Mickey.

"We need to find a place to get some breathing room," the teen said.

Mickey nodded in agreement. "You're right. This is not any place that we want to be." He looked around and saw a clearing in the distance which seemed to be devoid of the dark monsters. "This way. Follow me."

He ran through the crowd of monsters, carving through them with his Keyblade to cut a path. Riku followed, eager to get away from danger. A creature resembling a baby dragon flew at him, but he knocked it out of the air with a quick strike.

The Heartless continued their charge. In desperation, Riku decided to exert the control that he had been given over the creatures, even though he knew that they were the enemy. He raised his sword arm.

"Heartless! I command you to stop!" he shouted. A few of the creatures stopped and looked at each other in confusion, then continued their assault. Riku cursed under his breath. He slashed through a Shadow that jumped at him and continued running.

He saw Mickey jump off of a cliff ledge and land on a rock platform, then hop to the next one. He followed, knocking down any Shadows that tried to cut him off, and jumped across the gap. A few more jumps, and he reunited with Mickey on the other side of the ravine. They continued their sprint, ducking under and around rocks and fighting off any Heartless that got in their way.

Eventually, they came upon a clearing with no Heartless in sight. Breathing a sigh of relief, Riku dropped down and sat on the ground. Mickey raised his Keyblade and shouted "Heal!"

"Thanks," Riku replied. "It's… Mickey, right?"

The mouse nodded. "It's nice to meet ya," he returned the official greeting. "Though, I suppose I would've preferred if it were in… brighter circumstances."

Riku let out a laugh. "Yeah, I guess." He glanced at Mickey's Keyblade, which resembled Sora's but with its colors reversed, and then looked back out at the clearing where everyone had closed the door. "Did we really do it?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Set everything back the way it was. Did we restore the worlds? Are the islands back in the realm of light?"

Mickey nodded. "Yup. Defeating Ansem and closing the Door to Darkness purified the Heartless world on the other side and returned all of the worlds' hearts to the light," he said confidently. "Our friends are back home, safe and sound."

Riku smiled, relieved. "At least Sora and Kairi made it back alright," he said.

Mickey dismissed his Keyblade and sat down next to him. "Yeah, but don't you want to be there with them?" he asked.

Riku frowned. "I do, but… I can't."

Mickey raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Why not?"

Riku sighed. "Do you want to know how I ended up here? It's all my fault. I let Ansem and Maleficent use me. Sora tried to help me, but I let myself be convinced that he'd gone off and abandoned me and Kairi so he could play with the Keyblade with his new friends." He sighed and slammed his fist to the ground. "I was so stupid. I sided with the Heartless and even tried to hurt Sora. Then I let Ansem take over my body."

Mickey shivered. "I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "But… you know… from what I saw of him, he looked like he didn't want you to be stuck in here."

Riku sighed. "No… I guess he didn't. He kept trying to get through to me, no matter how much I antagonized him." He shook his head. "But I can't go back to the islands. Even if Sora and Kairi will still accept me… I still have to live with the guilt of what I've done."

Mickey could not argue. He had some mistakes and failures that still haunted him. He shook his head. This was not the place to dwell on such depressing thoughts, lest the atmosphere feed on them and cause the thinker to sink into despair.

"Well, at the very least, we can find a way out of here," he advised. "Whaddya say?" He held his hand out for Riku to take.

After a second, Riku smiled. "All right, your Majesty," he replied, taking the mouse's hand. Surprising Riku with his strength, Mickey helped him to his feet just as easily as another human of his build would.

As they started walking in a random direction, they did not notice a figure watching them from a cliff above. The shrouded character took interest in the duo, denizens of light trapped in the Realm of Darkness.

* * *

"This girl is quite powerful," Marluxia commented after spending the last few hours studying Naminé's abilities. He, Larxene and Axel stood in a corner of the observation chamber, watching Naminé as she sat in the opposite corner. Marluxia had provided her with a simple white chair so that she did not have to sit on the floor. Illusions of Sora's memories floated around her, the web of visions having expanded as the girl developed a better understanding of her powers. She wanted to reach out to the people in the images, but refrained as she did not want to cause any damage to Sora's memories.

As she watched footage of Sora, Riku and Kairi playing on the beach, a separate image began to form above the vision, disconnected from the chain. The scene that was displayed was identical to the one below it, except that it now included Naminé… or at least, that was what she thought she looked like.

"Hey, Marluxia," Axel said, pointing past the pink-haired man in front of him. Marluxia and Larxene turned to see what was happening.

"I don't believe it," Marluxia mused. "It appears as though she is creating a memory, copying what is in front of her and adding herself to the mix." At first, the vision followed the original memory's movements, only with Naminé pasted in as if in a green screen video edit. However, over time, the actions in the illusion began to deviate from its template, and the interactions between the original three shifted to account for the fourth player, as if Naminé actually was part of the scene.

Naminé sighed, and the new vision faded to nothingness. She wanted it to be real, but she knew all too well that it never could. She was not a part of their circle. She never would be. She was only an aberration with no identity of her own.

She was a "her", right? Sora and Riku used that and related pronouns in reference to Kairi and some of the other girls. On a slight examination of her own physicality, Naminé seemed to look like the girls, in particular apparently having a very similar build to Kairi and the brunette girl called Selphie, while she appeared somewhat different from Sora, Riku, and their other contemporary guy friends such as Tidus and Wakka.

Axel studied her expression curiously. _Was she experiencing… longing? Loneliness?_ he silently wondered. From what he and his colleagues could tell, she was a Nobody, the same as them, albeit with a befuddling nature. And Nobodies did not have hearts, lacking emotions; they could not "feel". And yet, just by viewing the memories of someone else, she seemed to be developing some sort of feeling. She seemed to be sad that she could not be among the kids in the visions.

"You know, maybe we can have some fun with this squirt," Larxene said with a devious smile. "Say, how about we get her to play around with the kid's head?" She laughed evilly and looked at Marluxia, trying to get a read on what the scheming assassin was thinking. However, her attention kept getting drawn away by the moving images that swirled around Naminé. There were dozens of visions that all vied for attention from even out of her peripheral. It was difficult for her to focus.

Larxene let out a noise that was a croaking mix between a groan and a bloodthirsty scream. Even without the capacity to feel even fear, Axel was left uncomfortable. "Someone make her stop that!" she shouted. Naminé flinched in fright, but the illusions did not falter. Marluxia and Axel looked around uncertainly, having no idea how to actually make the girl stop watching the visions.

Impatient, Larxene let out another croaking groan and stormed out of the room. She was gone long enough for Axel and Naminé's biological heartbeats to slow down before she returned. In one hand, she was carrying a pad of paper with a brown leather cover and a cardboard backing, bound by a series of rings. In the other, she carried a box of crayons. Larxene stomped over to Naminé. The visions whirled about until they opened a path for her to step through, as if the illusions too were terrified of the lightning-slinging Nobody.

Larxene shoved the pad into Naminé's hands and put the box of crayons down next to her chair. "You want to look at and play with those memories? Draw 'em in this! Don't bother us with this swirling chain web thing!"

Naminé lifted the cover to do as she said, but found that the first page had already been drawn in. The girl looked at the page in confusion, having absolutely no idea what to make of the sketch.

Larxene grimaced and grabbed the page, ripping it out by the holes for the rings. "Just ignore those," she said rapidly as she removed three more pages, folded them together, and shoved them in her pocket. Sighing, she turned and walked away, shooting a glare at Marluxia and Axel to make sure they did not even consider pressing her about her drawings.

Naminé shyly took a crayon out of the box and started scribbling, her mind's eye focusing on an image of Sora and Kairi. As she continued to draw with each of her crayons, the illusions slowly faded, until not even the swirling chains could obscure her at all.

"Better?" Axel asked sarcastically.

Larxene glanced back at Naminé, a look of disgust still plastered on her features. "A bit."

"So, you were saying that we could get Naminé to mess with Sora's memories when he comes here and get him to do what we tell him, correct?" Axel asked Larxene. "Are you sure we can get her to go along with that?"

"Hmph," Marluxia grunted with a smirk. "That is a puzzle, but I believe that we can give her all the incentive she requires." Larxene and Axel looked at him quizzically. He simply smiled and flipped his hair back, before striding over to Naminé. He stood behind her and watched her sketch from over her shoulder. The drawing seemed to depict Sora and Kairi sitting together on a short pier.

He put his hand on Naminé's shoulder to get her attention. "You seem to be thinking a lot about Sora," he said, his calm tone easily able to disguise his malevolent nature. "Do you want to meet him?"

Naminé was taken by surprise. What did he just say? Did he ask if she wanted to meet Sora? How? Why?

"I… can't…" was all she could muster.

Marluxia shook his head. "Oh, I'm sure we could work something out," he told her. "We could bring him here, and you could meet him."

Naminé felt nervous at the prospect. She did want to meet Sora and his friends, maybe become friends, but she did not know how it could work, considering what she was, whatever she was.

Marluxia sighed, almost as if he had been reading her mind. "But, I suppose it would be strange, seeing as how he has never met you before and yet you know so much about him," he said. "But maybe if he did have some memories of you, it wouldn't be too tough." Naminé looked up at him in surprise and confusion. What did he mean by that? "Perhaps if you could put in a few tiny memories to add to the ones he already has. Then, it would be like you two were already friends."

Naminé turned her head away. She could not do that. It was not right. Even if she wanted to meet him… She just could not do that to him.

Marluxia squeezed her shoulder tighter. "Don't you want that, Naminé?" he asked. "Don't you want to meet Sora? To be his friend?"

Naminé knew that Marluxia had no good intentions. But there was little she could do with him and Larxene bearing over her. "He's too far away," she said, making up any sort of excuse, having no idea if it was true or not. "I can't do that with him so far away."

Marluxia smiled, possibly in amusement, possibly with scheming intent. "On the contrary, he is on this very world," he said. Naminé's eyes shot open in surprise. "Only a few days away, in fact. I could bring him here for you." He crouched down so that his face was level with hers, and he stroked her cheek. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Naminé remained silent, unsure what to do. On the one hand, she could not bear to do what Marluxia wished to Sora. On the other, there was very little she could do for herself even if she said no. Especially if she said no with Larxene in earshot. But she had seen what Sora had done on his journey. She had seen what he could do. Maybe he could help her, if she could get him on her side, assuming that, whatever Marluxia wanted her to do, he was not too far gone.

"Okay," she finally said.

Marluxia smiled and stood up. "Perfect. Now, you go ahead and think of the kind of history you want to create. It's all up to you. In the meantime, I'll work on leading Sora here."

With that, Marluxia walked past his colleagues and out the door. Larxene gave Naminé a mocking wave and followed him. Axel exited as well. When they were all out in the hallway, the three Nobodies turned to face one another.

"So, Marluxia, how do you intend on luring Sora here?" Axel asked. "I doubt he and his pals will just follow a sign that says 'This way to a new friend, totally not a trap'."

Marluxia shook his head. "Nothing like that. I simply need to draw them in the right direction with something that would be a welcome sight to them," he replied. "They are seeking a way to find Sora's friend and their king, correct?"

"I think so," Axel said, going off of the rumors spreading along the grapevine amongst the Dusks flittering between realms. "But they're stuck in the Realm of Darkness, right?"

Marluxia smiled and waved his hand, causing a Dusk to materialize in a swirl of white thorns. He placed his hand on its head and willed some energy into it. The bipedal, humanoid Dusk shifted until it took the form of a yellow quadrupedal dog. Larxene scowled and balled up her fists at the sight of the dog.

"That mouse king owns a dog that looks like this," Marluxia said. He pinched is fingers together and an envelope appeared between them. The seal was marked with a symbol consisting of three circles. "And it all began… with a letter." He stuck the letter into the dog-Dusk's mouth and patted it on the head. "Make sure Sora and his companions follow you, but don't let them catch up," he whispered into the canine's ear. The Nobody that had taken the form of Pluto nodded and ran off down the hall.

Marluxia turned to his colleagues. "Now, let us prepare," he said, an evil smirk on his face.

Naminé overheard the conversation. She now knew for certain that the Nobodies had the intent on luring Sora into a trap. They likely planned on using her to tamper with his memories more than they had previously claimed. Well, two-er-four could play at that game.

 _You guys at it again? All right, I'll be the judge… It's a charm to help us find each other if we ever get separated. The three of us will always be together… Sora, let's take the raft and go—just the two of us! Hehe. Just kidding… Sora, are you really… No. He can't be! I won't let him go… This time I'll protect you… Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone… It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me…_

She was not sure why, but Naminé admired Kairi. The girl whom Sora cared about. Maybe it was how she acted around him, kind and caring. Maybe it was her strength of heart, or strength of will.

Whatever it was, Naminé decided that she would take strength from Kairi, and from Sora, too. She did not know where this desire came from, but after watching what Sora had done on his journey to other worlds, she somehow knew that what she planned to do was the right thing to do. She would do everything she could to help Sora survive this ordeal, and put a stop to whatever Marluxia and the others had planned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys. I'm glad to see so many of you clicking to follow this story after just the one chapter. However, I would like to hear/read what you all think of the tale I'm telling and how I'm telling it. Please, if there is something you would like to say, be sure to leave a review. Don't be afraid to leave criticism, though I would rather it be constructive rather than flames. Thank you.**

 **Now, we're catching up with the beginning of the game. Ch. 1 was about setting up the scenario that would play out over the story, and this chapter will show Sora, Donald and Goofy making their way to Castle Oblivion. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ch. 2

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked along the dirt path that cut through the grassy field. Despite having spent hours walking, there had been no change in scenery, save for a few groups of tall trees that did not branch out very far. Sora remained his happy-go-lucky self, having his hands folded together behind his head as he walked, but Donald was starting to become unsure.

"Well, now what do we do?" the duck asked sadly.

"We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey," Sora replied.

"But, uh, where do we start lookin' that there door to the light?" Goofy asked.

The three of them stopped dead as they realized their conundrum. How were they going to find their friends if they had no idea where to look, or where to go, or even where they themselves were? They sighed and slumped forward, giving off a humorous appearance as they continued to stand up but had leaned as far forward as they could and let their arms dangle. It was true. They were utterly lost.

Sora heard something in front of him and looked up. He saw a familiar four-legged animal walking across the path ahead of them. Donald and Goofy stood up and took notice of the yellow dog. Donald blinked in surprise. "Pluto?" he identified, bewildered by the unexpected presence. The dog stopped and turned its head to look at them.

Goofy smiled as he recognized the non-anthropomorphized dog. "Hey there, Pluto," Goofy greeted, waving. "Where've you been?"

Now Sora remembered where he had seen the dog before. It had found him when he had first woken up in Traverse Town. Before he could figure out what was going off, the dog had run off, leaving him on his own. Some time after meeting Donald and Goofy, he had learned that the dog, named Pluto, was King Mickey's pet, and he had accompanied them on their journey to Traverse Town, only for the dog to part ways from them shortly after arriving.

But how had the canine ended up on this world, so far from where they had left him?

That train of thought vanished quickly as they noticed something clasped in the dog's mouth. It appeared to be… an envelope?

"Huh?" Sora breathed, his focus turning to the letter.

"Hey!" Donald gasped as he noticed something sitting upon the letter, a shape comprised of a familiar arrangement of three circles.

"Gawrsh, that's the king's seal!" Goofy said cheerfully.

He was right. Sora had seen that mark in several places, including at the end of the chain on his Keyblade. But he also remembered that it was the shape of Mickey's head, with the two smaller circles covering for Mickey's ears. That letter could only have come from the king of Disney Castle himself. And if King Mickey had found a way to relay a message to them, there might be a way to find him and Riku.

Sora held his hand out in Pluto's direction entreatingly. "Hey, have you seen King Mickey?" he asked.

In response to the request to lead them on, Pluto turned and ran down the path they were on. Goofy and Donald traded confident glances, their mouths opened into large smiles.

Sora started to run ahead, but stopped and turned to his friends. A cheeky grin on his face, he waved his arm to beckon them onward. "Guys, come on!" he said.

With that, the three of them ran after Pluto, doing everything they could to keep pace and not lose sight of the dog. Donald held onto his hat to make sure it did not fly off. They laughed mirthfully as they went on, following Pluto through the path, which went over a hill and started winding as it went off into the distance.

For its part, the Dusk in dog form was satisfied that it had gotten its marks to follow it. It had no idea what Marluxia wanted with them, but it was glad to succeed in its mission, particularly one that required something as peculiar as taking on another's form.

The boy, duck and bipedal dog had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

* * *

The pursuit went on for a few hours before Sora, Donald and Goofy grew tired and slowed down. However, the "dog" continued running, having decided that it had led them far enough down the intended path that it could leave them to make the rest of the trip, and was soon out of their sight.

Losing their only lead did not discourage the trio, however. With some encouragement provided by Sora, they continued along the path at their own pace, figuring that they would catch up with Pluto or find a clue leading them to Riku and Mickey at some point. As the sun lowered over the horizon, they stepped off into the grass to make camp. Fortunately, they still had meal rations that would keep them fed for a few more days, so they took out food, heated it up with Fire magic, and ate, drinking intermittently from their personal thermoses, the contents of which Sora and Donald kept cold by way of blasting the metal exteriors with Blizzard spells. When they had had their fill, they laid down and fell asleep, intending to continue their trek in the morning.

They marched along for two more days, reminiscing on past events and telling jokes to fend off boredom, never losing faith in their heading despite not coming across any new landmarks or any clue that might lead them to their friends.

* * *

Marluxia examined the light blue card in his hand. The top edge of the card extended into three points, reminiscent of a crown. On one side, there was a black square that reflected light much like a hologram image. On the other side was a heart-shaped design that was a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the card.

"Naminé, explain to me how this works again," he requested.

The blonde girl fidgeted with her hands to try to come up with an aid for explanation. "The cards scan the memories I feed them, and then the cards, which will act like keys to get around, are scanned into the rooms, which reshape themselves to fit the conditions set by the cards and conjure illusions to mimic different locations," she explained, looking down nervously to avoid making eye contact with her captor. "Basically, they'll take the form of the worlds from Sora's memory, and I'll even fill them with the people he knows. He'll be unfocused across the floors. Easier to… bend."

Marluxia smiled. "Intriguing. Each day I am becoming more impressed with your skills, Naminé," he told her, leaning closer and putting a hand on her shoulder, causing her to wince. "He will be here soon. You of course know what to do when he arrives, correct?" Naminé nodded. "Good," Marluxia said. He stood up and smiled down at her, making sure not to increase the space between them. "Then I hope you enjoy your time with him." With that, he finally left.

Naminé waited until he was gone before she shivered. In the face of all of the abuse that Marluxia and Larxene inflicted to make her compliant, it was hard for her to keep her wits. A part of her wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, while another was prepared to do whatever they said in the hope that they would stop. But she knew that they would not stop, and giving them what they wanted would not make things better.

And in spite of the pain and terror, she took strength from Sora's memories. She saw him fight against those who caused harm to others and stood up to help others. When she needed encouragement even in solitude, she remembered a particular moment where Sora heard Kairi's voice from within his own heart.

 _I believe in you._

She had to remain strong. If Sora can persevere and be strong in the face of torment, then she can too. If Kairi can provide strength to him, then maybe he can provide strength to her, even if he does not know her.

In light of this, she spent her free time over the last few days coming up with a plan to counter Marluxia's own. She had an outline, but that was all she needed to work with for the moment. She did not know what would happen to throw things off, so she decided to leave enough openings for volley shots that come her way.

For instance, she told Marluxia that the memory cards would be a tool to keep Sora unfocused, but she actually planned to use the illusions to convey warnings to Sora, let him know that things will not be as they appear. Of course, she had to make them discrete enough that Marluxia would not pick up on the meaning while making them clear enough that Sora did, but she decided that she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

She turned her head to the right, examining a birdcage that had been placed next to her chair. A small angel doll had been placed inside, a not-too-subtle reminder of her place. She shook her head, steeling her resolve. She sighed as she sensed that her work would begin shortly.

* * *

A few miles away, in the dead of night, Sora, Donald and Goofy slept in the grass, only twenty feet away from the path, watched over by a full moon.

Finding himself unable to sleep, Sora sat up and glanced over at Donald and Goofy. Goofy slept with his gloved hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, while Donald used Goofy's torso as a pillow. Deciding to leave them be, Sora walked over to the path and began to walk along it. He walked until he came to a point where the road split to the right and stopped.

Looking up at the starry sky, his thoughts turned to his home, Destiny Islands, to his friends, to Kairi who was left to carry on without him and Riku, and to his parents who were probably worried sick about him. He wondered if he would ever see them again.

His musings were interrupted by the sudden interjection of a voice behind him. This caught him by surprise and caused him to wince. "Along the road ahead lies something you need," the voice said. Sora turned around but found that no one was there. Sensing something behind him, he whirled around and saw a man wearing a full-body black duster, his face obscured by the black hood pulled over his head. "However, in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you." Sora ran after the man, wanting to ask him what he meant, but the man turned around and faded into thin air, as if he was never really there to begin with.

Sora ran back and shook Donald and Goofy until they were awake. "Ugh, what's going on?" Donald asked crankily.

"I just saw a guy in a black coat, like that weird guy we fought in Hollow Bastion a few days ago," Sora told them. "He said something cryptic before vanishing. I think he wants to lead us somewhere."

Donald shook his head violently. "If he's with that creep in the coat, the best thing we can do is go the opposite direction," he warned.

"You know, that might just have something to do with what Pluto wanted to show us," Goofy said. "Might lead us to the King and Riku."

Donald glared at him. "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard!" he complained. "It's more likely to be a trap!"

"Well, we haven't found any sign of life until now," Sora reminded him. "Maybe it is the lead we've been looking for. But if it is a trap, then we'll just show him who's boss."

Realizing that he was outnumbered, and that Sora raised a valid point, Donald sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll take a look. But at the first sign of something screwy, we get out of there."

Sora nodded. "Deal."

"So, uh, which way did that feller go?" Goofy asked.

* * *

Naminé sketched what she saw through Sora's mind's eye. As she laid the sketch book down in her lap to examine her work, she knew that the long night had only begun.

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked along a light blue path which had ascended from the road and stretched off into what seemed to be an empty void. The path wound through space until it led to a large floating land mass. On that mass sat a castle that seemed to be made of a brown stone or metal, with green spired roofs. The trio did not know what to make of it. Its very structure and layout seemed haphazard and disjointed, with some sections that appeared to be sitting sideways. There was one section that appeared as though it might have served as a wing of the castle, but it was buried halfway through the ground, so deep that a portion of it stuck out through the bottom of the land mass.

Put off by the Escher-esque architecture, Donald and Goofy stopped and discussed their feelings on the matter. However, Sora, lost in his own thoughts, tuned them out. He wondered if it really was a good idea to lead them there.

His hesitation was cut off when a thought entered his mind. _Maybe Riku's in here._ He did not know where the thought had come from, but he was too absorbed in the possibility of finding his friend to care. He walked past Donald and Goofy and approached the door. When his companions realized what he was doing, they followed him.

Sora pushed one of the large doors ajar and peeked inside. Seeing that no one was in the entrance hall, Sora pushed the door further open and stepped inside. The entire room was white, with a few designs keeping the walls from looking completely blank. The only distinguishing feature was a cream-colored double door set with a small set of steps in front of it.

"Hey, ya think it's okay to barge in?" Goofy asked, keeping his nerves from overcoming him by contemplating etiquette.

"But we gotta do it, if we're gonna find the king," Donald argued.

Goofy jumped in surprise at Donald's statement. "The king? King Mickey's here?" he asked, looking around frantically.

"Something just told me he'd be here, okay?" Donald claimed.

"Really? 'Cause now that you mention it, I was kinda thinkin' the same thing," Goofy agreed cheerfully.

"Seriously? Me too," Sora agreed, amazed by the coincidence. He put his hand over his heart. "One look at this castle, and I knew. Our very best friends, they're here."

Goofy chuckled. "Guess great minds think alike."

"Wait, hey, hold on!" Jiminy Cricket, the waistcoat-wearing anthropomorphized insect who had been tasked with chronicling the journey, interjected, climbing out of his seat in Sora's hood and hopping onto his shoulder. "It can't be just a coincidence," he said, jumping up and down.

Donald groaned, realizing where this was going. "Oh no, Jiminy. You don't mean that—"

Jiminy nodded. "Yep, I had it too, mm-hmm! I had the exact same feeling."

"Gawrsh, maybe it's contagious," Goofy said worriedly.

"No, no. Something's screwy," Donald argued. "We gotta go take a look."

Sora recalled that Donald had said that they ought to turn back if things seem screwy, but he could tell that the duck's curiosity outweighed his stubbornness, and the situation was genuinely worth investigating. That put all three of them on the same page. "All right," he said. He turned and began to make his way forward.

Donald jumped in surprise. "Wak! Where are you going?" he asked.

Sora pointed in the direction he was going. "That way. To the door. Are you scared?" he teased, turning back to flash Donald a mischievous grin.

"Aw, don't be ridiculous!" Donald shouted in defense. "Come on. Let's go, Goofy!" He began to march forward.

"Hey, fellers, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy asked, once again considerate of etiquette. Sora and Donald rolled their eyes, thinking that they had more important things to worry about than letting the AC out, though Goofy did not notice. He turned to do just that, but he stopped in surprise when he saw someone there. "Sora!" he called out, prompting his companions to turn around.

A man in a black hooded duster just as Sora had described stood in the doorway. The door slowly closed seemingly of its own accord. Sora flinched in surprise at the sight of the man, but he knew that he now had the stranger right in front of him, and he could not simply vanish before he could be interrogated. The boy summoned his Keyblade. "That's it. Who are you?" he demanded.

Unfazed, the man simply walked toward them.

Donald, for his part, did not like it when people do not cooperate, especially when the man in front of them had lured them in with some intention. "Oh yeah? How about some magic?! Thunder!" He raised his staff to direct the spell along with his invocation. However, nothing happened. Sora and Goofy looked at him in confusion. Donald was similarly perplexed. "Come on, Thunder! Thunder!" He regarded his staff, wondering what was wrong. It almost felt as though something was missing, some key component needed to use the spell. He knew what the spell was, and he thought he was doing it right. But was he? He decided to try something else. "Come on… Blizzard? Fire!" Sora noticed that, this time, he was not waving the staff like he normally did to cast spells, instead swinging it uncertainly with Blizzard and pointing it upward to invoke what is normally a horizontal spell. Donald groaned. "Why isn't it working?" he wondered aloud.

"I should think it's obvious," the hooded man said. "The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew."

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at each other in confusion. _How does that work?_ Sora wondered.

"In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find," the stranger continued. "That is the way in Castle Oblivion."

"Castle Oblivion?" Sora repeated. Before he could inquire further, the man was wrapped in a black energy pod and vanished with it. Sora rubbed his eyes and looked around, trying to determine where he had gone. He was not sure what had happened. Had the man teleported? That question was proven true when he heard something behind him and turned to see the man reappear in a similar pod.

"Here, you will meet people that you have known in the past, and you will meet people you miss," the man continued.

"I… miss?" Sora parroted, still incredibly confused. Then, a thought jumped into his head and his eyes widened. "Riku! You mean Riku's here?"

"If what you want is to find him…" The man held his hand out and blasted Sora with a powerful wind force, which carried cherry blossom petals that materialized out of the air. Sora stood his ground and held his Keyblade out to push back against the gale. While he was distracted, the man became intangible and walked right through him. Sora turned and jumped after the man, bringing his Keyblade down to strike the man on the head, but his enemy vanished in a burst of cherry blossom petals at the last second. Sora whirled around and saw the man materialize on the steps in front of the cream-colored door.

"What did you do?" Sora asked.

"I merely sampled your memories. And from them, I made this," he answered, holding up a blue card. "To reunite with those you hold dear." He quickly threw the card toward Sora, and the boy caught it without difficulty as it passed his head.

Sora looked at the card and noticed that it had a picture of Traverse Town on the front. "What's this? A card?" he asked.

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek," the man clarified. "Hold the card to open the door, and beyond it, a new world." He extended his hand behind him to beckon toward the door and stepped to the side so that it was unobstructed. "Proceed, Sora. To lose and claim anew, or the claim anew only to lose." He vanished in a black pod once again before Sora could inquire further.

Sora examined the card again, then looked up at the door. He knew that this would likely be a trap, but he was aware that, if the stranger had been telling the truth, turning back would leave them worse off than when they came in because he and Donald could no longer use their magic. And if Riku really was in the castle, then there was only one thing to do. "Come on. Let's go," he said.

He walked up to the door and, as the hooded man suggested, held the card up in front of his face. After a few seconds, the image on the card glowed white, and a ray of light briefly flashed from the seam between the double doors. He jumped in surprise as the card vanished into thin air right out of his hand. He gaped in bewilderment, but his focus was drawn back to the door when it slowly began to open toward him, the space within emitting a bright light. He looked back at Donald and Goofy nervously, then proceeded to step through, with his friends right behind him.

* * *

Riku and Mickey had found themselves in another tough spot. They had managed to avoid large groups of Heartless for a while, but now found themselves surrounded by a pack of Neoshadows and three Darksides. As a result, they were once again fighting for their lives, hoping to survive and avoid being separated.

Riku watched one of the Darksides begin to charge up a ball of gravity flux, and realized that the weather was about to become more hostile. He turned to Mickey, who was busy fighting off a pair of Neoshadows. "I'm gonna take the big guy," he yelled. Mickey did a quick glance back at the monster he meant and nodded. Riku ran toward the Darkside, jumping over any Heartless that tried to get in his way. When he reached the giant, he leapt into the air and wrapped his arms around the Heartless' forearm. When the ignorant Darkside raised its arms up so that they were horizontal and the growing gravity orb was level with its head, Riku hoisted himself up and stood up on the arm. He hopped up to the Darkside's shoulder, then turned and began to slash at the giant's head with his sword.

Despite the assault, the Darkside did not flinch. It continued to charge up its gravity ball. Watching the orb shift and pop, Riku had an idea. Holding his sword above his head, he aimed carefully and threw it at the Heartless' hands, making sure that the blade went through the gravity orb, then hid behind the Darkside's head. He peeked out enough to see the gravity ball burst from a disruption in its field and the giant pull its hand away in pain as a sword swirled around inside the orb and sliced its fingers off. Seconds later, the unstable gravity orb exploded, unleashing a shockwave that caused everything within a one-hundred foot radius to stumble. The Soul Eater was propelled straight through another Darkside's head, obliterating it.

Riku was shielded from the blast due to hanging from the back of the Darkside's head, but he felt the giant lurch backward. He clambered through the Darkside's knotted hair and reclaimed his previous position on its shoulder. He summoned the Soul Eater back to his hand and resumed his attack.

Suddenly, when he was about to deliver a blow that would cripple the giant, Riku was hit with a severe vertigo. A white hallway flashed before his vision, much to his bewilderment. He saw a few other things, none of which made sense. The last thing he saw was the piercing gaze of an eye with an orange iris, before he fainted.

Mickey turned from his attack on the dazed Heartless and gasped as he saw Riku falling from the Darkside's shoulder. "Riku!" he shouted. He ran over to try to catch him, but Riku hit the ground before he could reach him. As he drew closer, he saw the Darkside take notice and lift its foot to step on Riku. He hurried over to the scene, jumping over Neoshadows that tried to claw at him.

Smoke rose up from the ground around Riku, but Mickey paid no attention to that. He jumped in between Riku and the Darkside's foot seconds before it would have flattened him, propelling himself in a diagonal toward the giant's sole. For a moment, he was not sure what happened next, as he was blinded by a sudden flash of light, but when he landed, the Darkside was gone, and the nearest Neoshadows were running away. He turned around to check on Riku, but found, to his bewilderment, there was nobody around.

"Riku?" he called out. "Riku? Gosh, what coulda happened to him?" He examined the spot where Riku had been and noticed that there was still smoke rising from the ground. He placed his hand in the center of the steaming circle and felt an energy that was not unfamiliar. "Did a portal appear? Is that what happened?" he asked to himself. "In that case, where could he have gone?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Funny story, I actually finished this chapter a week ago, but I didn't want to upload this chapter only a day after updating my other story, so I aimed to put it off by a couple days, only to forget about it and not realize that I never actually posted this. My bad.**

* * *

Ch. 3

Naminé held back a laugh as she watched Sora's interactions with the memory-generated illusions of his friends from Traverse Town. As she viewed it through his mind's eye, she realized that she had not had much time to properly program the illusions' reactions to him, Donald and Goofy. During each fight with the Heartless that materialized with each contact with a Shadow that appeared on the field as a switch bogey, she took the time to focus on how the characters from the next set of worlds would act around the trio.

In the meantime, she detected something appear farther below in the castle, although she could not determine what it was at this point, as it had only been a minor shift that had not created any further ripples.

She shrugged and decided to return her focus on watching Sora and figuring out how she would make things work. When she saw Sora defeat the Guard Armor and have a final talk with the Traverse Town crew, she plugged in a conversation with Aerith that only Sora was aware of. It was her way of slipping in a warning that things might not be as they appeared in a way that Marluxia would not be able to see. However, she was not sure how effective it would be, given how Sora was not actually under any sway yet. Hopefully, it would cast doubt on him.

"Hey, Naminé," Axel greeted, catching the girl by surprise and causing her to scratch a long line on her current drawing. She looked down at the mistake and sighed. She might not like what Marluxia was forcing her to do, but she did like drawing.

Axel approached her and looked down at the ruined sketch. "Whoops," he said, realizing what he had caused her to do. "Anyway, the boss is expecting some more of those World Cards. You think you could spare a few for Sora to run through?"

Naminé nodded. She took a set of five cards and handed them to Axel. He looked at them, recognizing some of the worlds: Agrabah, Wonderland, and Olympus Coliseum. He had heard a bit about the world that looked like a pumpkin with ghosts floating about, but he had never actually been there. But the last one perplexed him, as it looked a lot like a whale. He decided not to press the issue and shrugged.

"I'll be sure these get put to good use," he said mischievously as he walked off and left the room.

Naminé watched him leave with a curious interest. She did not know what to make of the redhead. He seemed to be working with Marluxia and Larxene, but he did not appear to participate in their scheming, as if he had been sent to work with them but had an agenda of his own. However, she knew very little of Marluxia and Larxene's intentions, so at the moment she had no hope of discerning Axel's wishes. All she could do was watch them and work on her plans.

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy stepped through the doors leading out of the replication of Traverse Town. Sora was mulling over what Aerith had said to him after the fight with the Guard Armor. _Don't let the illusions lead you astray?_ What was that supposed to mean?

However, he did not have much time to contemplate her words when the man in the black coat appeared in front of them. The tree of them took confrontational stances.

"Well, Sora? Did you enjoy meeting your memories?" he asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. It was good to see everyone," he admitted. "But what do you really want from me?"

"What do you have to give?" the hooded man simply asked in reply. He began to walk toward them. They summoned their weapons, getting ready for a fight.

However, a dark pod formed behind the hooded man and vanished to reveal a similarly-garbed man whose hood was pulled down, revealing his face and his head of spiky red hair.

"Hello!" Axel greeted cheerfully.

The hooded man had to restrain a sigh. "What do you want?" he asked without bothering to turn around.

"No hogging the hero," Axel teased.

Marluxia turned around to properly address his colleague. "Then perhaps you'd like to test him," he suggested.

"Perhaps I would," Axel replied just as Marluxia vanished in a dark pod. With the master of the castle gone, Axel directed his gaze at Sora, who was still armed and anticipating a fight, and winked. "My show now, Keyblade Master. Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Uh, sure…" Sora said, thrown off by the redhead's playful attitude.

"Good. You're a quick learner," Axel joked. "So, Sora, now that we're getting to know each other better…" He raised his arms to charge up energy, then extended them out to the side. Discs of fire spun in front of his palms and transformed into a pair of red and silver metal chakrams, each consisting of a large ring, four smaller ring centered around the larger wheel, eight spikes evenly spaced around the ring, and a cross-shaped handle in the center, which connected to the inner points of the smaller rings. As soon as the chakrams materialized, he caught them on the handles.

Sora, Donald and Goofy gasped, and they took on their battle stances.

Axel looked back up at them and grinned. "Don't you go off and die on me now!" he finished. He stood like that for a few more seconds to make sure they were prepared, and dealt the first attack, throwing one of his chakrams underhand straight at Sora.

Sora dodged the attack, but the flames burned Donald and Goofy. Axel teleported to where Sora had previously been and caught his weapon, then struck out at Sora. However, the boy retaliated and dealt a combo attack at Axel. Grinning the fiery redhead jumped over him and struck out, holding his flaming weapons. Sora was hit with the first blow, but he brought his Keyblade up and parried the next hit, throwing him off balance. Goofy charged in and shoved his shield into his side, knocking him to the ground. Axel whirled to his feet, sending tongues of flame spinning around him, and jumped over their heads. Donald cast Blizzard at him, but he deflected and neutralized the spell. Sora threw himself at Axel and attacked him, but Axel blocked the combo finisher and swatted him aside.

Charging up his power, Axel teleported to the center of the room. He raised his flaming chakrams dramatically. "Let the flames burn you!" he shouted, then held his arms out as three pillars of fire flared around him, making Goofy regret trying to go in for a close-range attack. He then pushed a radial fire blast away from him. The fire wall spread all the way to the walls, meaning that Sora, Donald and Goofy were caught in the attack and singed in the burning heat.

While Sora was recovering from the pain, Axel took the opening to attack, swiping with his chakrams and sometimes letting them hover a few inches from his fingertips. After the combo finished, Sora rolled to safety. Donald attacked with Blizzard, after which Axel warped to a different location. He threw a chakram at Sora, but the boy deflected it with his Keyblade, propelling himself toward his foe at the same time. He dealt a combo to send him reeling, then took the moment to cast Cure on himself and his allies. Axel regained his senses and attempted to conjure the fire wall again, but Sora struck him in the back, knocking him down.

The fighting persisted for a few more minutes before Sora delivered a finishing combo that launched Axel into the wall. Groaning, he vanished in a dark pod, but not before he flicked his wrist and dropped a set of cards out of his sleeve.

Sora, Donald and Goofy stared in bemusement as the cards floated up until it was in front of Sora, just above his head. The boy reached up and grabbed it, bringing it down so that he and his companions could take a look at it. Jiminy climbed out of Sora's hood to have a look as well.

"More of them? What do they do?" Goofy asked.

"Hmm… They kinda look like the card you used when you made Traverse Town," Jiminy observed.

Sora raised an eyebrow at this assessment, realizing that the cricket was right. "Then I guess we're gonna need it to keep going," he surmised.

"That's right."

Sora gasped when he heard the voice and looked ahead, noticing Axel casually leaning against the wall to the left of the stairway leading up.

"Axel!" Donald blurted. He and his friends summoned their weapons once again.

Axel calmly walked toward the trio. "Did you really think after that introduction, I would give up oh so easily?" he asked in a slightly taunting tone.

"You were testing us," Sora realized.

"And you passed," Axel replied. "Congratulations, Sora! You're ready now, ready to take on Castle Oblivion." Sora relaxed his guard, confused by what Axel was saying. Axel then took on a more cryptic tone, which would only confuse Sora more. "You will need to follow your memories; trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then you will find someone very special."

"You mean King Mickey and Riku?" Goofy guessed.

Axel let out a chuckle. "You will just have to give some more thought to who it is that's _most important_ to you," he replied ominously. "Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts that they're out of reach. But I'm sure that you can find yours, Sora."

"Why me?" Sora asked.

"You have lost sight of the light within the darkness, and it seems that you've forgotten that you forgot," Axel claimed.

"The light within darkness…?" Sora repeated, trying to understand what the stranger was implying.

Axel reached his hand out as if beckoning Sora to take it, even though they were still more than ten feet apart. "Would you like me to give you a hint?" he asked.

Sora considered Axel's offer. Could there really be someone important to him that he no longer remembers? Of course, considering how the man with the hood led him and his friends to the castle, whereupon they were made to forget all of their magic and special techniques, and the mere fact that neither he nor the other similarly-garbed stranger seemed to be a friendly sort, it could very easily be a trap. But if there was even a grain of truth in Axel's claim, then he could not just turn it aside. Although, he was not quite ready to trust these enigmatic characters.

Goofy stepped up far enough to see Sora's face and try to see what he was thinking. "Sora, do you need it?" he asked.

Sora stood up straight and shook his head, then look the redhead in the eyes. "I'm gonna figure it out for myself," he declared. To assert his conviction, he entered his battle-ready stance. "If you're in my way—"

Donald jumped in between Sora and Axel, giving the redhead the stink-eye. "Don't worry, Sora. We'll protect you!" he said. Sora blinked in confusion and rolled his eyes, though his change in expression was unseen by the duck and obscured by the lanky man.

Axel let out a laugh. "Good answer. Just what I'd expect from the Keyblade master," he said, returning to his playful tone. However, he went back to an ominous tone. "But be forewarned: when your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now." With those parting words, he vanished into a dark pod, leaving the trio perplexed.

Sora cocked his head to the side at the message, wondering what he could have meant by that. With no clear answer, he examined the cards that Axel had left behind, and counted five. He, Donald and Goofy recognized the images on all of them as locales which they had visited together over the past several weeks. He shuddered when he saw the picture of a familiar whale on one of the cards, remembering the gargantuan creature that had swallowed the Gummi Ship whole with them inside.

Sora shrugged. "I guess we should keep going," he said uncertainly. Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement, and the three of them made their way up the flight of stairs carved into the wall ahead of them.

* * *

Riku breathed evenly as he slowly faded back into consciousness. When he could think clearly again, he continued snoozing, not sensing anything wrong with his current circumstance. However, once he recalled the last thing he remembered, fighting numerous Heartless alongside King Mickey, he jolted awake. He looked around, seeing that he was in some sort of grey void, as it registered that he was floating face-up.

"Where am I?" he asked, posing the question to no one in particular, for as far as he could tell, he was all alone.

"Stay asleep," he suddenly heard a strange voice tell him. Gasping in surprise, he did the opposite and fidgeted himself until he was in an upright positon, though he still appeared to be floating.

"Who's there?" he shouted.

"You should remain asleep," the voice continued. Riku looked around, trying to discern where the voice was coming from. "Here, between light and dark."

"Between… what?" At that point, he realized that something was truly wrong, and someone was missing. "The king! Where's the king? Together we closed the door to darkness. After that…"

"You came drifting here by yourself," the voice claimed. "You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness. Or… maybe you were close to it."

"Hmph. As if I'm some kind of demon," Riku spat back. Something tickled in the back of his mind. The voice seemed strangely familiar.

"Turn from the light. Shut your eyes," the voice advised. "Here, blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. But…"

A blinding light shone in front of Riku's face, forcing the boy to turn away and close one eye. When the light faded, he looked forward to study the strange blue card that had appeared, and which had begun to float around him.

"What's this?" Riku asked.

"It is a door to the truth. Take it, and your sleep ends, as you take the first step toward the truth," the voice explained. "But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go?" As the voice spoke, the card circled around Riku and stopped in front of his face, giving him a clear view of the dilapidated castle depicted on the front face of the card. "There is no return to the security of sleep.

Riku closed his eyes and considered his options. Either stay, and go back to an empty slumber in the void between light and darkness, or take the card and face uncertain truths, which may be more painful than he can bear. Finally, he reached a decision and opened his eyes. He reached out and grabbed the card.

"This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway," he quipped, taking on a smirk.

"That was very well-said, Riku," the voice replied, as if amused by his line, though the tone did not change.

The card shone once again with a blinding light, and when Riku's vision cleared he found himself in a cube-shaped room with white walls and columns. In the wall across from him, raised on a platform led up by a short set of stairs, he could see a set of cream-colored double doors. Riku glanced around to take in the sight, before his eyes settled on the doors. He could tell that through them was the way he needed to go. He looked at the card, deducing that it was his ticket through the door.

"A door to the truth, huh…?" he mused.

* * *

 **Fun fact: I looked up a playthrough of the Axel fight on YouTube and then wrote the fight around that. I hope you enjoyed.**


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